Having hot flashes? Research Project in Detroit Needs Volunteers
When you experience a hot flash, do your clothes would fuse to her skin. Many women have such a terrible experience with this that their friends asked if they were OK.
Hot Flashes Make Me Feel Like I Am Melting
If this sounds like you and you live in the Detroit area, join other menopausal women at St. John Macomb Hospital to determine if an antidepressant, Celexa or citalopram, provides relief for hot flashes. The hospital seeks up to 220 women to participate in the study.
In this hot flash study half of the women get Celexa, the other half take a placebo in the randomized trial.
"Hot flashes are cut in half and the severity and duration have diminished remarkably," says one participant. She could dress normally again and did not wake up in the middle of the night kicking off the covers.
Researchers have tried many different antidepressants in the past for hot flash relief, but Celexa, taken in a low dose, shows promise. Some previous work suggests this will decrease the instance of hot flashes by as much as 60 percent.
Women who have experienced more than 14 hot flashes a week are eligible for the study. To participate, call Marg van der Veen, the clinical trials coordinator, at (586) 573-5127.
Editors note: Natural progesterone Cream and other natural supplements have shown a high rate of relief without side effects according to the writings of Dr. John Lee.
Plastics May Pose Danger, Increase Estrogen
The safety of a chemical, Bisphenol A, that's probably in your cell phone, eyeglass lenses, car, computer, baby bottles, microwaveable dishes - and hundreds of other popular products - will face public scrutiny beginning March 5, 2007. Concerned scientists and others believe it reacts in the body as estrogen.
Bisphenol A is used to make lightweight clear plastics and resins used as adhesives and coatings in everyday products.
For a decade or more, critics have been concerned that the chemical could harm human health, particularly the development of fetuses and children, because it works like the female sex hormone estrogen. Other chemicals that mimic estrogen, notably the banned pesticide DDT, have been shown to interfere with hormone function and cause abnormalities in wildlife and laboratory animals.
The chemical industry contends that the weight of scientific evidence on bisphenol A doesn't support the claims of harm. But the chemical has been the subject of much controversy recently.
Female rats exposed to bisphenol A in the womb developed carcinoma in situ and pre-cancerous changes in their mammary tissue as adults, she said.
But it's not just levels of exposure to the chemical that are important. The fetus takes developmental cues from changing hormone levels. So introducing an estrogen mimic at the wrong time could send the wrong signal to the fetus and throw off development, she said.
Editors Note: Dr. John Lee commented on this decades ago and the medical establishment ignored the warning.
Menopause Therapies
Women must weigh the benefits and risks of hormone therapy.
Women struggling with such hormone decisions have myriad questions and concerns. "Unfortunately, there is no universal plan for all women," says Pamela Bogges, educational director for the North American Menopause Society in Cleveland. "Every woman is different, and her body is continually changing as [she] goes through the menopausal changes. . . . Should a woman take hormones for menopause? The answer is 'maybe.' "
If you're confused, you're not alone. Though there is good information available, the flood of study results and their interpretations can muddle minds. To smooth the way, here's a primer on menopause and hormone therapy.
Menopause simply put is the "change of life," when a woman's period stops because of lack of hormones. A woman is considered past menopause when she hasn't had a period in 12 months.
Most women start noticing symptoms and changes in their periods between the ages of 45 and 55 and have symptoms for three to eight years. Fifteen percent, however, will have lifelong symptoms, says Dr. I. Cori Baill, whose Menopause Center in Orlando treats patients referred by other physicians. Or, as in Catala-Beauchamp's case, menopause can be artificially induced with the removal of hormone-producing ovaries. Women who have undergone chemotherapy and radiation also might experience sudden menopause onset.
Symptoms include:
- hot flashes,
- night sweats,
- sleep disturbances,
- fatigue,
- mood swings,
- vaginal dryness,
- weight gain and
- "brain fog."
Skin elasticity, muscle tone and bone density decline, and the risk of cardiovascular disease increases. Not all women suffer the same: many experience menopause easily, while others are tormented by it.
Hormone therapy's benefits and risks. Drugs containing estrogen or a combination of estrogen and progesterone or progestin are used to supplement or replace declining hormones. Though they might seem like a magic wand to women who use them to relieve symptoms, there are risks to consider. "The real issue is you're going to have to make a decision based on your circumstances," Baill says. And that is more complicated than it seems.
Doctors prescribe estrogen for women who have had their uterus and ovaries removed, while those who still have their reproductive organs are given a combination of estrogen and progestin or progesterone. Though the hormones provide health benefits in some areas, they might be detrimental in others. For instance, a woman taking an estrogen/progestin drug during menopause or in early post-menopause reduces her risk of uterine cancer. Other sturies indicate that though women who take estrogen alone might get added protection against breast cancer, women given the combination drug might have a slightly greater risk of developing the disease, especially if it is used for more than five years.
Are you willing to gambel with your life? Drug companies hope so. They say the risks might be lessened by things such as the amount of time spent on hormones, how they are delivered to the body and, possibly, the drug chosen.
Recently, when a 7 percent decrease in breast cancer in 2003 was reported, medical professionals hypothesized the drop might connected to those millions of women who quit their hormones the year before.
Editors Note: All this confussion has been cleared up over the past 20 years by women who've stood up to their doctor and just said "NO" to synthetic HRT and yes to progesterone cream and healthy lifestyle changes.
